Different Circumstances
by abovethecurrents
Summary: AU: Mako is a triple threat and The Avatar shouldn't be affiliated with a criminal. But she can't help it- she's pulled to him. Two-shot. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

—

She shouldn't be doing this.

She shouldn't be sneaking out this late at night, not even taking Naga with her as she swam through Yue Bay. She shouldn't be meeting him; she knew this was forbidden and frowned upon and for _spirit's sake,_ the Avatar should not be affiliated with a Triple Threat.

But she did it anyways. She did it because she hated being told what the Avatar could and could not do. She did it because she liked the excitement, the fear of getting caught, the rush. She did it because she liked the spunk _he _put in her life; he didn't treat her like she was special, and while that irked her, it fascinated her at the same time. How could anyone ignore the oh-so-powerful aspect of _Avatar _Korra, and instead view her as _just_ Korra?

Korra frowned as she burst up onto the platform of the city's dock, quickly drying herself before pulling a hat on. No one could see the Avatar roaming streets this late at night, so she had to be disguised. Korra's hair was out instead of tied, and her usual water-tribe clothing was switched for the more common City style. No one would recognize her.

Korra wandered down the streets of the downtown section, trying to find the place where the alley was. She could see why he would be here. Downtown transformed in the night; there were bright lights advertising casinos, strip clubs, and the like. Women walked around in short dresses, feathers decorating their hair and pearls falling from their necks. Men of the worst kind were drinking, gambling, flirting everywhere. Some of these men even approach her. Korra shrugs them off.

She slips through a crack in the walls, entering the dark alley she had become so used to. This was their meeting place, their hidden spot. Quietly, Korra pull her hat off, squinting in the dark as she searched for his figure.

"You came."

A teenage boy appeared from behind the garbage bin, his usual smoke balanced between his teeth. Korra wished he would stop smoking; but it was a bad habit of his, and who was she to scold him on bad habits when she had plenty herself.

"I don't know why you sound so surprised. I always come," she responds, making her way to the boy. Stopping right in front of him, Korra put her hands on her hips as she met his eyes with a glare of her own.

He chuckles, moving to put his hands on her hips, letting the smoke drop from his mouth as he gently kissed Korra's cheek- out of character for him, really, since he didn't treat girls _gently_ at all. "We've got to stop," he murmurs; but they said it every time. It was a useless phrase, something they never followed through with. Both of them knew they couldn't stop. They didn't want to.

Soon their clothing was discarded and nothing had to be said except for breaths and whispered moans.

—

"There's been some Triads messing with the citizens. I need you to capture them."

Chief Beifong's strong voice boomed through the room as she addressed Korra. The Avatar tried to hide the lump that had formed in her throat.

"I have a list of some of the suspects," Beifong continued, slapping down a piece of paper on the desk. "These are some of the more notorious triads. Capture them and we'll have all of the Triple Threat's secrets. It's your duty as Avatar. Fail this, and you fail the city."

Korra scanned the paper, hoping, praying she won't see his name on the list.

Her prayers are futile. Mako's name is written, plain as day.

—

They meet in the alley again, and there's no pretending. No teasing, talking, or messing with each other. She embraces him immediately, saying nothing. A moment later, and he hugs back, burying his face in her hair.

"You knew this was coming," he says, his voice tight and shaky. "You're the Avatar. I'm a criminal. We're enemies, naturally."

"I didn't know I'd start falling for you," she retaliates quietly, still buried in his chest.

She hears his breath hitch, and the next moment he's pulling away, shock evident in his eyes.

"F-falling?" he quietly whispers.

She nods. There is no use in pretending anymore. They were only supposed to be fuck buddies, just a release for each other- but when did 'friends with benefits' ever work out that way, really? Feelings always got tangled up in the mess.

"I'm a monster. No one could love me. Not even my own brother." Mako glances down, running a hand through his hair.

"Yet I do." Korra steps back, picking her hat up again. "I should go."

"Korra-wait."

Mako grabs her hand and pulls her in for one last, lingering kiss, filled with more love then he had ever shown to anyone before. All his hidden feelings, and all of hers, are expressed, one last notion before they meet again on the battlefield.

"I fell for you too," he whispers against her lips.

—

She recalls a conversation she once had with him. One of the many they had when they were naked in his bed, all walls down and just the two of them together. _Pillow talk_, he called it.

He had asked her a question, a random one really, about fate.  
"Do you think we would have met if I hadn't been a triad?" he asked, staring up at the ceiling.

Korra couldn't help but think how odd it was, to see the transformation from the façade Mako played, with his smirk and his smoking and drinking and man-whore attitude, and then seeing the real Mako, the one who was damaged and hurt and human.

"…Yeah," she responds after a while, looping her hand with his and staring up at the ceiling too. "I think…there are some people you need to meet in your life, and the Spirits make sure it happens. So if you were a triad, or if you were a monsoon, or even if you were a probender-" she chuckles a bit, and he has to laugh too, because the idea of pro-bending Mako is so absurd, "-I think we would have met."

"So I'm some special guy in your life that the Spirits think you need?" he jokes, smirking.

"Shut up," she groaned, smiling despite herself.

"I wish the circumstances were different, either way," Mako mutters to himself, so quietly, but she hears. He doesn't know, though.

_Me too_, she thinks. Because maybe they would have had the chance to be together.


	2. Chapter 2

Korra told them she's going to do this alone.

She doesn't want a squad with her while she does this. It's a stupid decision on her part, really, and she'll get hurt terribly if her plan doesn't go well, but she doesn't want a squad for something that should be done by the Avatar only.

And it's also because she doesn't want _him_ to get hurt.

She's thought it all through; she can't avoid this. She's got to take these triads, because Beifong's words are ringing through her ears- _fail this and you fail the city. It's your duty as Avatar._

But she can at least limit the chances of running into him. Capture everyone else who was on the list but him. Say he ran away, or he wasn't there to begin with. That's her plan. It's loose, it's vague, it's terrible. But it's all she had.

So now, there she was, crouched at the door of the hideout of the triads. Alone. She hears the voices inside, along with the occasional drunken fist fight and cheering of men, some cahoots and catcalls at the stripper girls that are no doubt in there. Korra does a quick think. She's memorized the names and faces of the men she needed to capture. She'll get them knocked out, let the stripper girls run away uninjured, and hopefully_, hopefully_ Mako won't fight her. Hopefully he'll see what she's doing and run.

They hadn't talked since that last night in the alley, which was a couple of months ago. She hasn't seen his name in the newspapers recently either; he was keeping a low profile, which was good. Was he doing well? How was his smoking habit going? Did he miss her? Korra had so many questions, too many, and she hopes she will never ask him. Because interacting with him again is dangerous for the both of them.

Korra pulls herself away from her thoughts. She stands, takes a deep breath.

And kicks the door open.

The stripper girls let out screams, rushing through the back doors, leaving the gawking men behind. Two triads approach Korra. One of them is a man on the list. She knocks him out with a simple kick to the head. The second triad takes the coward's way out and runs.

She scans the room. More triads approach her. She fights them. She finds another suspect on the list. Knocks him out. Two down, two to go. One to go if you don't count Mako.

The room is empty, and Korra leaves the knocked out suspects on the floor as she ventures out to the hallway. She hasn't run into Mako yet, which is better than she hoped.

Korra opens doors, takes a peak, and closes them. Bathrooms, janitor's stalls, empty offices and rooms. She gets to the last door in the hallway and opens it.

He's there.

He's taking a drag from his smoke, paused mid-air as he sees her. His eyes flicker something-some emotion- as he realizes it's her, it's really her.

"Korra." He whispers her name, so quietly it's like it's sacred.

"Mako," she responds.

And she can't help it, she really can't, as she runs into him, and his arms open and they embrace and clutch each other and don't let go, they just don't. He's stroking her hair and she's trying hard not to cry.

But then she remembers. The guys in the room, the ones who are knocked out, are still there and she's got to leave and Mako has to run, quickly, now.

"Mako. Mako, you've got to go." Her words come out rushed as she pushes against him, separating them. "You have to. I was sent to capture you. I'm going to let you go. Go!"

Mako just looks at her, just stands there, and it's so infuriating because _agni_, doesn't he understand what she's saying?!

"What are you doing?! You idiot! Leave! Go! Hurry!" She's shoving him to the door now, and crying, crying really hard. When did she start crying?

"Korra. Korra, stop-all right, I'm going, just listen to me!" He grabs her hands and take them off his chest, pushing them back to her. His eyes get distant, and he's looking at her like she's made of gold.

"I missed you," he says, stroking her cheek.

"Shit, Mako, we don't have time for this," she whispers, closing her eyes. "You've got to go now. Unless you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life!"

"I don't, believe me." Mako chuckles, dropping his hand from her face and stepping back. "I'm going. But I need to see you again. We have to talk things out." He glances behind him, before looking back at Korra. "My apartment. You remember where it is?"

Korra nods. They've spent _many _nights in his apartment.

"Meet me there sometime. I look forward to it." He smiles, an actual real smile with warmth, and then he's gone.

—

She meets him the next Saturday, and they both spend the night showing just how much they've missed each other. The next morning, once they're clothed, she hands him a train ticket.

"You're going to leave Republic City tomorrow," she states as he looks at her, confused, "and you're going to go to Omashu. Stay there a couple of years, until your rep calms down over here. In the meantime, do something to help- become a police officer, or a tour guide, or something-"  
She's cut off by his laugh.

"Yeah, I don't think so, sweetheart," he cockily states as he leans back in his chair. "I don't know jack shit about laws… and anyways, I'm not leaving you." He says the second part of his sentence tenderly.

"You're going to have to," she scowls, not wanting to waste time.

"No."  
"Do you want to go to jail here?"

"No, I don't. But if it means being with you, I will happily except it."  
"Don't you get it?!" Korra's standing up now, angry, infuriated. "We can never be together! _It's impossible_! Never happening! So stop pretending like it will!"

Mako stands up too. But he's not fighting with her. His eyes reflect something fragile, something sensitive.

Korra throws the ticket on the coffee table and walks to the door. Just before exiting, she stops in front of the door, takes a shaky breath. "Bye, Mako," she whispers.

"I'll send you a postcard sometime, hey?" Mako's voice sends warmth throughout Korra's body.

It'll be the last time she'll hear it, probably.

—

No one remembers the triad Mako anymore.

Sure, Beifong still does, but even she decides to let it go. "Kid's probably moved to another city or somethin'," Beifong says one day. "As long as it's not here, it's not my problem."

Korra hasn't found anyone else like him in the three years since he's left.

No one who makes her so angry yet so happy at the same time. No one who knows her like he does. No one who's simple glance could send shivers down her spine like his did.

She misses him, to say the least.

—-

The Avatar opened the door to her apartment, breathing out a sigh of exhaustion as she slumped in a chair. She glanced a the mail on her coffee table; hoisting herself up, she sorts through it. Bills, complaints, thank- you letters, more complaints, a postcard from Omashu-

A postcard from Omashu.

—-

Avatar Korra moved to Omashu two years ago, quite suddenly; no one knows why. Perhaps she got tired of the hectic City.

Of course, that's not really why, but Korra lets people think that.

She hums in content as he traces patterns on her naked back, lying in the white sheets together, nuzzled in each other's warmth. He kisses her cheek, her neck, her shoulder. She runs her hands through his hair.

"We're finally together," he whispers, and the words stay in the air; tantalizing, precious. "After all this time. We're finally where we belong."

She grins at him, the diamond ring he gave her last night when he asked her to marry him glinting on her finger. And she can't help but think how impossible it all was, that she ended up with a former triad, that she found her soulmate in such a place. She thinks, _the Spirits say you're someone I need? Well, I agree._

"Yeah," she breathes, and she can't be happier. "We are."

"I love you, Korra."

"I love you too, Mako."

—-

**_the end._**


End file.
